Limpopo ANC Statement on the SACP`s calls for ANC Limpopo government leadership to resign

Limpopo ANC Statement on the SACP`s calls for ANC Limpopo government leadership to resign

14 September 2011

The ANC notes the statement of the Limpopo SACP dated 13th September 2011 making a call for the Limpopo Provincial Government to step down.

As the ANC we reject the call made by the SACP for the provincial government leadership to resign. South Africa is a constitutional democracy whereby mere throwing of allegations does not necessitate the resignation of an elected government leadership. The SACP Interim Leadership knows this fact very well.

The Auditor General`s annual report on the ANC Limpopo government has shown improvement on audit outcomes. This is sufficient proof that our government is committed to sound financial management.

The SACP knows that the ANC-led government in Limpopo is the best performing province in housing delivery.

The SACP Interim Leadership also knows that Limpopo government has blacklisted poor performing contractors in order to demonstrate that we don`t tolerate incompetence. But the SACP turns a blind eye to this.

These unwarranted attacks aimed at discrediting the ANC provincial leadership in government are uncharacteristic of our Alliance culture. In the context of the upcoming provincial conference, the ANC Limpopo leadership encourages provincial Alliance leaders to take a more responsible stance in managing political issues instead of using this forthcoming conference as a catalyst to create unnecessary tensions.

In short, these comrades use dirty tricks of vilifying fellow comrades through untested claims – something which is "un-ANC" and foreign to the culture and traditions of the movement.

Further, we strongly refute allegations of corruption made against ANC deployees in government by our SACP comrades. In our 2009 election manifesto, the ANC committed itself to fighting corruption and crime as one its top five priorities. We are equal to this task; recent Audit Outcomes mentioned earlier in this release is further proof of this.

Essentially, we are not seriously worried about the image of the ANC generated by these wild allegations because our people know very well what the ANC in Limpopo has done and continues to do to change their living conditions. This has once again been expressed in the recent 2011 local government elections in which the ANC won by 81% and in the recent local government by-elections.

We are more concerned about the ill intentions of the SACP Interim Leadership to tarnish the good image and stature of the SACP in the eyes of the poor.

The ANC calls its deployees in the state to pay less attention to the distractive and infantile demands for them to step down but rather to continue focusing on the electoral mandate firmly bestowed on the ANC by our constituencies.

We also call on our branches and regions not to respond to this provocation. Instead, they should focus on ensuring quality service delivery and take up campaigns aimed at changing the conditions of our people.